About This Class
What's the point of learning history? I get that question a lot, and I'll let my answers tell you what this class is going to be focused on.
1) The state says you have to know this to graduate. They also say I have to teach this to get paid. Add those two together and you get the simplest answer possible: becuase we have no choice. While those are true reasons, I don't think they are very good reasons.
2) It helps us understand the world we live in. There are very, very few situations that we face that haven't been faced by other people long before us. There aren't many stories on the news that are unique to our time. Nations still go to war over most of the same reasons. Elections are decided by many of the same issues. Politicians make the same promises, and about the same number of those politicians keep those promises. King Solomon of Israel wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun." David McCullough wrote, "History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are." Both of them are right.
3) America is the richest and most powerful nation in the world, America is a democracy. That means that once you turn 18 you will have a say (a vote) in who runs the most powerful country on earth. With that vote comes responsibility. To form an informed opinion on the current state of our nation you need to understand its past. This class is a starting point for learning that past. "Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people." -President John Adams
1) The state says you have to know this to graduate. They also say I have to teach this to get paid. Add those two together and you get the simplest answer possible: becuase we have no choice. While those are true reasons, I don't think they are very good reasons.
2) It helps us understand the world we live in. There are very, very few situations that we face that haven't been faced by other people long before us. There aren't many stories on the news that are unique to our time. Nations still go to war over most of the same reasons. Elections are decided by many of the same issues. Politicians make the same promises, and about the same number of those politicians keep those promises. King Solomon of Israel wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun." David McCullough wrote, "History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are." Both of them are right.
3) America is the richest and most powerful nation in the world, America is a democracy. That means that once you turn 18 you will have a say (a vote) in who runs the most powerful country on earth. With that vote comes responsibility. To form an informed opinion on the current state of our nation you need to understand its past. This class is a starting point for learning that past. "Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people." -President John Adams